


Emily's Story (5)

by pallasite



Series: Behind the Gloves [107]
Category: Babylon 5, Babylon 5 & Related Fandoms
Genre: Backstory, Canon Compliant, Fix-It, Fluff, Gen, Growing up in the cadre system, POV Child, POV Female Character, Pets, Psi Corps, School, Slice of Life, Telepath culture, Worldbuilding, telepaths
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-17
Updated: 2018-04-17
Packaged: 2019-04-24 03:00:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14346594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pallasite/pseuds/pallasite
Summary: Emily and her cadre meet a real live dog for the first time.The prologue ofBehind the Glovesishere- please read!Part 1 of Emily's story ishere. Part 2 ishere. Part 3 ishere. Part 4 ishere.





	Emily's Story (5)

**Author's Note:**

> What is this series? Where are the acknowledgements, table of contents and universe timelines? See [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10184558/chapters/22620590).
> 
> If you like _Behind the Gloves_ and would like to send me an email, I can be reached at counterintuitive at protonmail dot com. Do you have questions? Would you like to tell me what you like about this project? Email me!
> 
> I also have an [ask blog](https://behind-the-gloves.tumblr.com/), a [writing blog](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/pallasite-writes), and a "P3 life" Tumblr [here](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/p3-life) with funny anecdotes. :)

When Emily was eight, she and her cadre got a special visit for science class.

Though she and the others had seen many pics and vids of animals, they had seen very few in real life. Rumor had it that when they got to the Minor Academy, they would get to see the _zoo_ , where all the animals lived. In the meantime, there wasn't much.

There were birds on campus - mostly pigeons, but if she looked closely, she could see other kinds of birds up in the sky or in the trees. There were a lot of squirrels. Pedro had once found a dead mouse behind some boxes. (He'd screamed, but Emily hadn't been afraid. She was just interested, since she'd never seen one before.)

And of course, there were plenty of bugs, especially in the summer. Flies, earthworms, beetles, spiders, and mosquitoes. If Emily was super lucky, in the spring, she would find a fuzzy, spotted caterpillar. (And then all the children would crowd around it and take turns holding it until the teachers would tell them to put it back and leave it alone.)

She'd once heard a rumor about a stray cat on campus, and some of the other children had seen it, but Emily hadn't.

And that was it. The world was filled with animals, but she didn't get to see them.

When the cadre was eight, the teachers brought in a special surprise - A DOG.

The class met outside that day. The children knew the teachers had planned some big surprise for them, but could only guess what. Then they saw it, and started shouting. The science teacher, Ms. Churchill, brought the dog over on a long, black leash.

The dog barked, as if it was saying hello. His tail wagged, and he looked at the children with playful eyes. The creature was big - a vizsla, with a short red coat, wet black nose, and friendly demeanor. He came right up to Emily and licked her hand and started sniffing her.

Everyone crowded around to pet the dog. Erika wanted to know if this dog was like the ones in the stories, and could smell people miles away just by their footprints. Victor wanted to know if the dog had super hearing. Pedro wanted to know what the dog liked to eat. Quinton asked if it was true that dogs wagged their tails when they were happy.

"Can we name the dog?" asked Xander. Ms. Churchill told them the dog already had a name - "Beaver."

Emily thought "Beaver" was a stupid name for a dog - it was a dog, not a beaver. A beaver was an entirely different animal - she knew that from her books. But she didn't say anything aloud.

"Can we train the dog?" asked Jackie.

The teacher explained that that would take too long - the dog was only staying for one day. He belonged to one of the school administrators.

Pedro asked if the dog could do tricks. He told Beaver to roll over. (He didn't.)

The cadre knew they could never keep the dog, especially if he belonged to a school administrator. But they begged the teacher for a dog of their own.

"We can't keep dogs on campus," she told them. "It's not practical. And if one cadre gets a dog, everyone will want one."

They realized the teacher was right. It wouldn't be fair for just them to have a dog. Everyone had to be equal and share.

"Maybe we can all share the dog," said Victor. "And he can live with us on Monday and with another cadre on Tuesday and so on."

The children all agreed to Victor's plan - then _everyone_ could have a dog.

Again, no.

But they got to spend that whole science period outside, running and playing catch with "Beaver," and hoping that some day, when they were older, they could have dogs of their own.

This was certainly the most exciting day of their whole year.


End file.
